Hunting habits of hawks
backyardmama
16 years ago
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sharoncarlson1
7 years agodarla_scott10
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Advice on stopping hawk from killing chickens
Comments (30)Thanks to all that have shared over the past. My 10 chicks just started laying about 3 weeks ago. When they began laying, they became much more more brave about ranging out in the open and have been roaming our 3 acres like never before. Up to the point of laying, they stayed within 25 yards of the coop and always under the trees. I witnessed the first hawk attack yesterday. One of the hens had wandered off down near the wooded creek area and a broad-shouldered hawk hit her twice as she skedaddled for the coop with me hollern' and shouting the whole time. All the others ran for the shrubs around the house. Fortunately, she just lost a good size clump of feathers. I'd seen another hawk doing reconnaissance a couple of months back and had strung two lines with some streamers from our 2nd story deck to near the coop about 10-20ft off the ground. Think I will add a couple of more today to other points at the edge of the woods to increase the coverage and maybe add an owl decoy. I haven't given up on free-ranging yet, but I guess my next step would be to build a penned chicken run....See MoreA hawk came to my window
Comments (12)I'll go with Coopers too, in retrospect. Steve said "Kestrel" with such conviction that I just believed him without looking into it. It was definitely "big hawk" sized. I'm having a hard time understanding how he could have bumped into this window accidentally. You can't see it from this photo, but we have a rather overgrown red bud tree in this little interior corner of our house's exterior, so a bird has to land in the tree, turn around, and swoop down to reach it. He seemed very alert, and intermittently intent on attacking either Izzy's head, or his own reflection. (I couldn't be sure which.) He pecked at the glass with that beak and then flew against the glass with his talons extended. It was amazing to watch, and I was afraid he was going to shatter the glass. I watched him fly to a tree in our backyard afterwards. It did seem as though the bird was taunting the dog. And I burst out laughing the one time Izzy broke eye contact with it and glanced over her shoulder at me as if to say: "Shoot it! Shooooooooot it!" I've been out tonight, but Steve says Izzy's been patrolling the windows all evening. I swore I could smell the adrenaline surging through her during the encounter....See MoreNesting Hawks
Comments (1)Yes, they do. Good luck!...See More6 Red Tail Hawks Decimating Local Wildlife!
Comments (94)It's sometimes a process, rehabber46, just learning (sometimes the hard way) what to do or not do. I see it all around me, the destruction of habitat as the city encroaches on the more 'wild' part of a county. People fleeing the 'city' move into portions of the county that were basically flattened and stripped of trees and shrubs, acres of it. Makes no sense to me, to be honest. Those bare and manicured yards are often kept that way with pesticides. Heck, we don't even spray for mosquitos. We just let the bats do the job for us. Right now, my yard is covered in tons of leaves. Many people don't know this, but some 300 species of insects (butterflies, moths, native bees, etc) overwinter in leaves, many of them attached to the very things most rake, mulch, mow, and clip away. Leaving leaves on the lawn, undisturbed, means far more beautiful and beneficial insects in the coming spring, and it also means more food for the birds as well. We've planted 2 plots of garden for hummingbirds and butterflies (and bees of course), and we've also planted native shrubs (additional ones to those already out there) for birds. American Beautyberry was our most recent. We have oaks that drop an abundance of acorns, several black cherry trees, maples, pine, and tons more. Even holly is beneficial to birds. As long as it's native, it's beneficial. As they say... fresh food, water sources, and shelter (for protection against predators and nesting), and you'll be helping nature thrive. Honestly, it's a lot less yard work when the shrubs are left 'scrubby' and the leaves are left until the temps are back into the 50's consistently, when raking is less harmful to what's overwintering in those leaves. I see more and more people going for the 'cottage garden' or 'wild garden' look for both just landscape.. and even vegetable gardens. I prefer the more messy and wild gardens than the sterile landscapes of most suburbs....See Morelazy_gardens
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